Report
A focus on families: A short-term benefit package for the extension of multi-tiered social security coverage in Viet Nam
This report was produced as part of a wider effort by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Viet Nam to build the case for expanding social protection benefits as part of a multi-tiered social security system.
The Government of Viet Nam has placed the social insurance system at the centre of its plans for social protection expansion. Resolution 28 sets ambitious targets of covering 60 per cent of the working age population by 2030, with the eventual goal of achieving “social insurance for all.”
At the same time, Viet Nam’s current social protection benefits aimed at families and children are fragmented, unequal and incomplete. The social assistance system offers only narrowly defined benefits for certain categories of families and children in need. Meanwhile, the social insurance system provides an unequal and incomplete selection of family-oriented benefits – one that includes cash maternity/paternity benefits under the compulsory system but not under the voluntary system, and which lacks child or family benefits in either system. Not only do these systems fail to accommodate key lifecycle risks associated with family life, but they leave out millions of vulnerable families and children, particularly those in the “missing middle”.
At the same time, Viet Nam’s current social protection benefits aimed at families and children are fragmented, unequal and incomplete. The social assistance system offers only narrowly defined benefits for certain categories of families and children in need. Meanwhile, the social insurance system provides an unequal and incomplete selection of family-oriented benefits – one that includes cash maternity/paternity benefits under the compulsory system but not under the voluntary system, and which lacks child or family benefits in either system. Not only do these systems fail to accommodate key lifecycle risks associated with family life, but they leave out millions of vulnerable families and children, particularly those in the “missing middle”.